The term functional harmony derives from Hugo Riemann and his textbooks on harmony in the late 19th century, with roots back to Jean-Philippe Rameau's theoretical works amongst others. His main idea was to create a comprehensive theoretical basis for understanding the principles of harmonic relationships typical for the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods. His work had huge impact, especially where German influence was strong. A good example in this regard are the textbooks by Hermann Grabner.
Riemann's basic theories have since been adopted, refined and elaborated upon by many authors of textbooks in harmony, arranging and composition. Functional harmony is being taught as a basic discipline in music theory all over the western world, though different labels are used. Other terms used in the English and American tradition include Common Practice Harmony (stemming from Walter Piston), Tonal harmony (as used by Allen Forte), and Traditional harmony (as used by Gordon Delamont. Vincent Persichetti describes the 19th century harmonic repertoire as "chords evolving around the tonic pillars" (tonic, subdominant, dominant).
Nonfunctional harmony, the opposite of functional harmony, is harmony whose progression is not guided by function.
Read more about this topic: Diatonic Function
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